Sept. 8 (UPI) -- French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou was expected to be unseated Monday in a confidence vote he called himself in a bid to force drastic spending cuts of $51.6 billion through the National Assembly.
Bayrou has been waging an uphill battle to pass his deeply unpopular 2026 budget, which seeks to tackle France's ballooning national debt with spending cuts, axing two public holidays and a freeze on most welfare benefits.
The centrist leader wants to slash 1.2% from the deficit as a percentage of GDP, reducing it to 4.6% in the next financial year, even as that will still leave France in breach of European Union rules mandating that states that use the euro keep budget deficits to a maximum 3% of GDP.
He has framed the confidence vote as existential, calling it a "grave and urgent" time for France.
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